Is it possible to melt amber

Ive always wanted to work amber, never got round to it. BUT heres what id do if I was in your shoes. Id set up a small flame under a piece of metal, preferably stainless steel and warm the metal slowly with some of the dust on the top. If it boils or spits then the temp is above deg C. Then think about using some baking ali foil made up onto a small crucible to repeat with more of your amber powder.

Let us know the results of your trials. If you over heat it will burn of course.. Chunks of amber used to be pressed in a heated mold and reconstituted into "amberoid", which was used for pipe mouthpieces, cigarette holders, etc in the 19th and early 20th centuries. I doubt this would work with amber dust, though.

It's supposed to be possible to use amber dust to make varnish, but that's a difficult and dangerous project involving hot ether I've only heard about this - don't try it at home, kids. Copal dust, on the other hand, dissolves readily in denatured alcohol, and makes a varnish a lot like shellac. Ernst Simon then patented a process in for directly pressing heat-softened amber into detailed moulds to reduce the wastage arising from carving.

More intricate items such as cigarette holders and pipe mouthpieces could then be cheaply mass-produced - only requiring drilling and polishing to finish them. Modified and improved versions of these processes are still used today, generally using superheated steam in an autoclave as the heat source.

It is essential that the amber is thoroughly cleaned of debris and weathering crust and that the process is performed in an airtight oxygen-free environment vacuum or inert gas to prevent oxidative darkening and subsequent deterioration.

The colour and clarity can be improved somewhat by moving closer to degrees the lower limit of softening , but you then need more pressure. Given enough pressure you can even force small amber granules to bond together at temperatures below the softening point. There is a modification of the above, whereby single but irregular pieces of heat-softened natural amber are simply squashed into moulds to forcefully make them a more useful shape. The colour and clarity can be retained and it may not even be noticeable that the piece has been manipulated.

With the possible exception of that last method, these are not techniques that you could readily use at home. The above posts were fruitful. Any specific binder for amber briquetting? You need to be a member in order to leave a comment. Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy! Already have an account? Sign in here. Existing user? Sign in with Facebook. Melting Amber Amber. Recommended Posts. Andretje Posted October 24, Posted October 24, Hello, i know it is not possible to melt amber just like that.

I know amber is pressed and i think you can melt amber in an autoclave or maybe by mixing it.